At Vandenberg Air Force Base, the Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft was installed into its transportation canister and placed on the spacecraft transporter. Friday, it is scheduled to be moved from the payload processing facility on south Vandenberg to NASA’s Space Launch Complex 2 on north Vandenberg and hoisted atop the Delta II rocket.

The Aquarius/SAC-D mission is a collaboration between NASA and Argentina’s space agency with participation by Brazil, Canada, France and Italy. NASA’s Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida is managing the launch. United Launch Alliance of Denver, Colo., is NASA’s launch service provider of the Delta II 7320.

Solar arrays No. 2 and No. 3 were installed onto the spacecraft May 13. Array No. 3 was deployed on May 16 and a solar array illumination test was conducted May 17. Later this week, solar array No. 1 will be attached, the magnetometer will be installed, a solar array illumination test will be conducted and a magnetometer boom deployment test is planned.

The Atlas V rocket is scheduled to arrive at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station next week.

The solar-powered Juno spacecraft will orbit Jupiter’s poles 33 times to find out more about the gas giant’s origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere.

The cruise stage, back shell and heat shield for the Mars Science Laboratory payload arrived at Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility aboard an Air Force C-17 cargo plane on the evening of May 12. These are the first flight elements to arrive for the Mars Science Laboratory mission. During the overnight hours of May 13, they were taken to the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) located in the KSC Industrial Area. They have now been removed from their shipping containers and placed on test stands so that processing activities can begin. The Curiosity rover will arrive late next month.

The rover’s 10 science instruments will search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. The unique rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release the gasses so that its spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth.